By Peg Prendeville

I enjoyed Kathleen Mullane’s account of her trip to Lourdes last week. It made me feel I was there with them. Obviously the shrine still attracts a lot of people in spite of the reducing number of practicing Catholics. We should not fear that faith is dying as I believe it is evolving into a different understanding of what God means to us. Most people would say they believe in God or a Supreme being but it does not necessitate them going to weekly Mass to prove it. So we trust that life will go on and the earth will keep on spinning.

I was in Killarney on Sunday for the Munster final. I have never seen the town so busy; it was almost impossible to find a parking space. Doing the pub rounds on Sunday night was another experience. So many people enjoying themselves, both young and old, but also so many obviously the worse for wear due to consuming too much alcohol. The streets were awash with rubbish including chip cartons, plastic containers and sick. I thought if a tourist just happened to be in an Irish town for the first time what an impression they would get of us. Not a good one, I am afraid. It is not nice to see a lady squatting on the side of the street peeing and trying to balance her drink at the same time. We do let ourselves down, now and again. However the streets were pristine clean again next morning when daylight came. Well done to those whose unpleasant job it was.

It is holiday time and many people are travelling to various parts of Europe in search of fun and sun. Some more are staying local and being entertained at the Willie Clancy week in Miltown Malbay where I hear they are having a great week of music.

The National Lotto can now be played in Mullane’s Shop. A new postbox and the lotto. How lucky are we?!

Glin library will be closed on Friday 7th as I will be attending the wedding of my nephew Stephen Murphy to Michelle Moore. Incidentally Stephen went back to college in UL as a mature student four years ago. He obviously put his heart and soul into it as he came out with a degree in Product and Design and was awarded Product Designer of the Year 2017. Best wishes to Michelle and himself in their future life.